Learning UML 2.0 [Paperback]

Russ Miles (Author), Kim Hamilton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0596009828 | ISBN-13: 978-0596009823 | Edition: 1

"Since its original introduction in 1997, the Unified Modeling Language has revolutionized software development. Every integrated software development environment in the world--open-source, standards-based, and proprietary--now supports UML and, more importantly, the model-driven approach to software development. This makes learning the newest UML standard, UML 2.0, critical for all software developers--and there isn't a better choice than this clear, step-by-step guide to learning the language."

--Richard Mark Soley, Chairman and CEO, OMG

If you're like most software developers, you're building systems that are increasingly complex. Whether you're creating a desktop application or an enterprise system, complexity is the big hairy monster you must manage.

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) helps you manage this complexity. Whether you're looking to use UML as a blueprint language, a sketch tool, or as a programming language, this book will give you the need-to-know information on how to apply UML to your project. While there are plenty of books available that describe UML, Learning UML 2.0 will show you how to use it. Topics covered include:

• Capturing your system's requirements in your model to help you ensure that your designs meet your users' needs



• Modeling the parts of your system and their relationships



• Modeling how the parts of your system work together to meet your system's requirements



• Modeling how your system moves into the real world, capturing how your system will be deployed

Engaging and accessible, this book shows you how to use UML to craft and communicate your project's design. Russ Miles and Kim Hamilton have written a pragmatic introduction to UML based on hard-earned practice, not theory. Regardless of the software process or methodology you use, this book is the one source you need to get up and running with UML 2.0.

Russ Miles is a software engineer for General Dynamics UK, where he works with Java and Distributed Systems, although his passion at the moment is Aspect Orientation and, in particular, AspectJ. Kim Hamilton is a senior software engineer at Northrop Grumman, where she's designed and implemented a variety of systems including web applications and distributed systems, with frequent detours into algorithms development.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Russell Miles is a software engineer for General Dynamics UK where he works with Java and Distributed Systems, although his passion at the moment is Aspect Orientation and in particular AspectJ. To ensure that he has as little spare time as possible, Russ contributes to various open source projects while working on books for O'Reilly. He currently is studying at Oxford University in England for an MSc in Software Engineering.

Kim Hamilton is a senior software engineer at a major aerospace corporation, where she has designed and implemented a variety of systems, including web applications and distributed systems. Kim has a Master's in Applied Math and Computer Science from Cornell University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (May 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596009828
• ISBN-13: 978-0596009823
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > Assembly Language Programming
  • #4 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering > UML
  • #8 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Software Engineering > Methodology

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good conversational approach that builds on itself..., September 30, 2006

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Learning UML 2.0 (Paperback)

Based on a recent project at work, I realized I needed a better understanding of UML. To that end, I decided to review the book Learning UML 2.0 by Russ Miles and Kim Hamilton. While there's still a lot to learn there, I think I have a much better grasp on what's going on...

Contents: Introduction; Modeling Requirements - Use Cases; Modeling System Workflows - Activity Diagrams; Modeling a System's Logical Structure - Introducing Classes and Class Diagrams; Modeling a System's Logical Structure - Advanced Class Diagrams; Bringing Your Classes to Life - Object Diagrams; Modeling Ordered Interactions - Sequence Diagrams; Focusing on Interaction Links - Communication Diagrams; Focusing on Interaction Timing - Timing Diagrams; Completing the Interaction Picture - Interaction Overview Diagrams; Modeling a Class's Internal Structure - Composite Structures; Managing and Reusing Your System's Parts - Component Diagrams; Organizing Your Model - Packages; Modeling an Object's State - State Machine Diagrams; Modeling Your Deployed System - Deployment Diagrams; Object Constraint Language; Adapting UML - Profiles; A History of UML; Index

Miles and Hamilton use a conversational approach to introduce the reader to UML 2.0, and they build on a model that makes sense. The Use Case view drives nearly everything, as that's the "what" of what the system is supposed to be able to do. Then they cover the logical, process, physical, and development views that support the system and show different perspectives of what the system will look like depending on which angle you view it from. All too often, it seems like UML diagrams are just thrown at the reader one after another, and there's no real explanation as to how it all fits together. Fortunately, that's not the case here, as the model framework for their tutorial puts everything in the right relationship to each other. I also appreciated how the diagram tutorials started out with just the basics and built from there. Again, it's common to see a tutorial diagram with every possible permutation thrown in right at the start. As such, it's far too easy to zone out right away because of all the baggage. Here, you get the core elements of the diagram first (which often cover 80 - 90% of what you need to know anyway), and then the extra details are introduced after that. I was much better able to conceptualize the whole discussion when put in that light... Very nice job...

I would say that if you have this book coupled with a full UML 2.0 reference manual of some sort, you'd be pretty well set to do most anything you'd need to in the world of UML. I know I'm better equipped to do those sequence diagrams now, where before I was faking it pretty well... :)

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars UML 101, November 28, 2006

By 

S. Stanicki (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning UML 2.0 (Paperback)

This book could have been titled UML 101, because it is very readable. However it assumes that the reader knows a bit of an object oriented language, in particular Java. Chapters 4 thru 7 demonstrate how UML diagrams are used to model OOP principles such as class inheritance, interfaces, and messaging using Java snippets of code. This is an important part of the book, but it isn't a show stopper for those unfamiliar with object oriented concepts. The authors briefly explain what classes are; they also define abstraction, encapsulation, state, and behavior.

I Highly recommend this book for getting familiar with UML.
In particular:
- It's very readable.
- It is not specific to any UML software tool, only the standard symbols and diagram layout practices.
- It is a book that you could open up to any page and browse.
- As a future reference.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book, not just for Java programmers!, June 7, 2008

By 

Takahashii (Wageningen, Netherlands) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Learning UML 2.0 (Paperback)

I'm a junior Java programmer and the main reason why I came into contact with UML is because some of the major Java IDE's like Sun Java Studio and NetBeans have fully adopted support for UML modeling. Even though the tutorials on the Sun and NetBeans website give you a very good heads up and despite the fact that there are many UML tutorials available on the web I wanted more. Both a learning guide as well as some good reference.

And thats what I found in Learning UML from O'Reilly. What I like best about this book is that even though it covers the entire UML 2.0 spectrum it doesn't try to cover every little detail which don't add to the learning experience. Instead it gives you clear links for further reading or browsing (for example; it covers some of UML's history and gives you links for more detailed stories).

Another very important part for me is the way the book is setup. It seperates the different diagrams and follows a very logical order. From Use Case to Activity, Class (both regular and advanced), Object, Sequence, Communication, Timing, Component, State and Deployment. And because each chapter covers one diagram (with the exception of the class diagram which covers 2 chapters) its very easy to use this book both as learning tool as well as reference.

And the reason why I'm writing up this review.. This book assumes that the reader is already somewhat familiar with Object Oriented (OO) programming as well knows a little about Java. Examples where they show how some code snippets functionality are being displayed in a model are based on Java. However, despite that detail it doesn't result in a book which is only usable for Java (-like) programmers.

So summing up: A great book to learn UML and use as reference.